The Thistle and the Bow
by HAFanForever
Summary: Merida decides to offer her mother a true peace offering to ensure that things between them are better, and in doing do, she gets a surprise of her own.


Upon hearing the first crow of the rooster, Merida instantly opened her eyes and sat up in her bed. She smiled when she thought of the last time she eagerly woke up, which was the morning that she had her day off from being a princess, the day that she climbed the Crone's Tooth and drank from the Fire Falls. That day had been so grand for her…until she came home and learned of her impending betrothal from her mother. Sometime after that, Merida had embarked on a meaningful journey with her mother that she was bound to never forget.

Since her mother's transformation into a bear and back into a human, Merida had gained a greater appreciation and love for her mother, but also an understanding and acceptance of her responsibilities as the future ruler of DunBroch. She willingly put more effort into her mother's lessons by diligently trying to act more like a wise and responsible ruler, rather than just brushing them off and feeling bored while also eagerly waiting until they were over. Although by now Elinor accepted Merida for the person she was, even if she was not a typical young woman, Merida still tried to please her mother by showing some ladylike behavior in the lessons. Because she had become much less of a perfectionist, Elinor noticed the changes that Merida was making in these lessons and gave her a great deal of commendation her for them, rather than only looking for her mistakes as she used to do. These praises left Merida feeling very pleased with her progress, and they also made her start to enjoy the lessons even more, much to her delighted surprise. She suspected that it was partly due to how much she realized she loved her mother and enjoyed being with her, just as she had when she was a child.

Today, however, was another day that Merida was free of lessons and expectations, but Merida decided not to do her normal day-off routine of riding Angus off into the woods and exploring them. Yes, she told herself that she would go down and spend some time with Angus in the day, but she decided that she would just hang around the castle grounds for the day instead of going away from it. There was one spot in particular that she wanted to visit and find something special there.

* * *

Once she got outside, it didn't take Merida too long to find the spot she was looking for: the thistle patch. Merida came here because she wanted to pick a thistle for her mother. She remembered that, on the night that her mother turned into a bear, Merida had offered the cake on a tray as a false peace offering, and the tray also included a thistle. But based on what happened when Elinor ate part of the cake, she remembered that she did not offer Elinor the thistle. However, since their relationship had truly healed since that night, and since things were still going strong for them with Merida's improvements in her mother's lessons, Merida thought now was a good time for her to give her mother a thistle as a true peace offering. She just wanted the assurance that her mother had truly forgiven her and that there were no longer any hard feelings between them.

When she spotted the perfect-looking thistle, Merida took great care to pull it off of its stem and made sure it didn't come apart once she had it picked. Then she headed back towards the nearest castle door, but when she got there, she quietly pushed it open and peeked in, making sure that her mother wasn't there. Merida decided to surprise her mother with the thistle, and didn't want to run into her in the hall or someplace where she wouldn't have time to prepare herself or surprise her in the way that she wanted to surprise her.

* * *

Once inside, Merida knew it would be almost impossible to successfully sneak around since there were so many people in the castle, along with the fact that the castle was so big, so there were so many places that her mother could be by now. She was just hoping that she could find her mother before her mother found her, like she did in the kitchen when Merida came home that night, after fleeing into the woods and getting the spell cake.

Thinking of that moment, Merida decided to head to the kitchen to see if Elinor was there. When she reached the kitchen door, she peeked in and saw that Elinor was there, and at the moment, she was turned away and had her back to where Merida was standing. Wanting to do it her way, Merida quickly but eagerly walked over to her mother before she could turn around and threw her arms around Elinor from behind.

Upon feeling Merida's arms come around her waist, Elinor gasped, but when she turned around and saw Merida hugging her, her expression quickly changed to a smile.

"Thank you, Merida," Elinor said as she turned around to face Merida, who by now had let go of her mother. "Is there any particular reason why you gave me a hug?"

"No particular reason," Merida answered. "Only because I love you."

Elinor thought she felt tears start to form in her eyes after hearing what Merida said. As she looked into Merida's eyes, she gently took Merida's head in her hands and said, "And I love you, too, my brave wee lassie." Then she gently kissed Merida's forehead, and Merida thought she felt tears start to form in _her_ eyes.

"Mum," Merida began, "I actually came looking for you because I have something for you."

"What's that, dear?" Elinor asked.

Merida hesitated for a moment and looked away from Elinor before saying, "Well, I remembered that when I gave you the spell cake that night, that I said it was a peace offering." Before her mother could interrupt her based on what she was saying, Merida continued, "And I had something else on the tray that I wanted to give you but didn't." She returned her gaze to her mother as she finished, "So now I want to give you another one of those as a true peace offering between us."

Having kept it out of sight since coming into her mother's presence, Merida brought the thistle out in her right hand and offered it to Elinor. As she did, she stayed silent, but wore a look that was one of genuine hope for her mother's forgiveness.

Elinor gasped softly upon seeing her daughter hand her the thistle and gently took it from Merida. She closed her eyes as she sniffed the thistle, then she looked back at Merida, who was looking right into her mother's eyes. Before Elinor could say anything, Merida quickly threw her arms around her mother again and closed her eyes as she hugged her tightly. This surprised Elinor again, but she only placed her arms around Merida and brought her beloved daughter closer to her.

Merida was loving the feeling of her mother's embrace, but soon drew away to ask her mother the question that was on her mind. "Can you truly forgive me now, Mum? Can you believe me by now that I am truly sorry for all that I did to you and to us? For cutting the tapestry and insulting you, and for turning you into a bear? I never meant to do that to you, Mum! I only wanted you to change in a way that you would be more understanding of my needs and accept me for who I was, rather than try to make me be someone I felt that I wasn't! I wanted to talk to you about my feelings about the betrothal, about how I just wasn't ready for such a responsibility! But I thought that it would do no good because I felt that you wouldn't truly have listened or understood because of how different we are!"

As she spoke, Merida did it so rapidly that she nearly became hysterical. When she felt a few tears fall from her eyes, she quickly wiped them away with her hands, and felt a little embarrassed to be crying in front of her mother.

But far from being critical to Merida in what she was doing now, Elinor genuinely listened to Merida with concern, and only felt sympathy for her when Merida briefly cried. Pulling out a handkerchief, she took Merida's face in her hands again and gently shushed her as she wiped her face off. By now, Merida had begun to calm down and was taking quick gasps of air.

As she stroked some strands of hair out of Merida's face, Elinor said, "Merida, sweetheart, after what we learned from this experience together, I've come to believe that we were both at fault in the situation. It wasn't just the work of one of us. You're right; I wasn't very understanding or accepting of you as a person because we were so different from each other. You did need to understand why the betrothal was important to keep peace in the kingdom, but I think by then, I had just become so determined to keep the kingdom running well that I wasn't really thinking so much about what was best or right for you. That's why I was so proud of you when you spoke to the lords and their clans. What you said to them showed me that you finally understood its importance and had paid attention to my lectures. You acted like a very wise peacemaker and diplomat with my words of wisdom, Merida." Elinor briefly paused to smile at Merida before she continued, "You used those traits like I wanted you to, but I now realize that you don't have to be just like me to use them. And I was serious when I said to you that we both changed from our experience. You really matured in how you recognized that what you did was wrong and you took responsibility for your actions by making sure to set things right." Elinor noticed another tear falling from Merida's eye, so she wiped it away as she finished, "From all that's happened, I think I can see that a point comes to where you are not like that ancient prince…or should I say, _Mor'du_, after all. By now, Merida, I have no doubts that one day, you will become a fine queen of DunBroch."

Merida started to grin widely and gasped happily as she said, "You really believe that, Mum?"

"Absolutely, dear. And while we had to learn some things the long and hard, not to mention unusual, way, the important thing is that we learned from this. Think about it this way: if it had not happened, we may not have become so much closer the way we are now." Elinor smiled at Merida, then kissed her forehead again before wrapping her arms around her daughter for another hug. Merida closed her eyes as she returned the hug, feeling more love from her mother and for her mother now than she had ever felt before.

After a few moments, Elinor let go of Merida and said, "This is a beautiful thistle, Merida. Thank you. You didn't have to offer it as a true peace offering for us, but I understand why you did. I feel very touched at this gesture of love from you. In fact, since you gave this to me, it reminds me that I have something for you, too."

Merida's eyes widened in surprise. "You have something for me?"

"Aye," Elinor answered. "It's not a very fancy gift, but I think you will be pleased with it." Before Merida asked, Elinor said, "It's in the tapestry room, so come upstairs with me to the room so I can give it to you."

* * *

A few minutes later, Merida was in the tapestry room with Elinor, who was opening a trunk. She looked over to Merida and said, "Close your eyes, dear…and no peeking." She smiled mischievously as she said the last part.

Merida did as she was told, and kept them closed when she heard Elinor say, "Hold out your hands so I can put it in them."

"Yes, Mum," Merida said and did just what Elinor said to do. When she felt the item put into her hands, she moved her fingers around it to figure out what it was, and just as she gasped, Elinor said, "You can open your eyes now."

Merida opened her eyes and gasped again upon seeing _her beloved white bow!_ She noticed that the string had been replaced and it had been cleaned enough so that only a few burnt marks were visible. It was not in its best condition, but Merida could tell that it could still be used.

Merida quickly began to cry again and could barely get the words out besides "But Mum…how did you…you threw it in the fire…!"

Elinor smiled deeply and figured out what her daughter was trying to say, so she answered, "Yes, I know what I did, Merida. But as soon as you left, I pulled it out of the fireplace. I regret what I had done to your bow, dear, and I only did it at that moment in the heat of my anger, since I was angry at you for ruining the tapestry. I quickly realized that that retaliation was not what I should have done, and if there was a chance at all, I wanted to save the bow for you. So I showed it to your father, and he helped me set to work on fixing it, and that includes its new string and the cleaning/removal of the burnt marks. Once I had enough time to get it mended, I wanted to wait for the right moment to give it to you. And since you gave me this thistle, I thought now was as good a time as any to give you the bow."

More tears fell from Merida's eyes as she listened to her mother's story. She felt speechless for a great number of words, but she managed to say, "Thank you, Mum. Thank you so, so much!" She wiped her eyes off as she added, "I just don't know what else to say to express my happiness!"

"You don't need to say anything else, dear, I know it's in your heart," Elinor replied.

Merida laughed through her tears, then she gently placed the bow down on the nearby stool. Before Elinor could ask questions, Merida quickly grabbed her mother for yet another hug, and Elinor only returned it and kissed Merida's head.

"I love you, Mum. I love you so much," Merida confessed as she felt more tears of happiness fall down her cheeks.

Elinor felt a few tears of her own fall from her eyes as she said, "And I love you, too, Merida."

Mother and daughter stayed like that for a few more minutes, but to them, it felt like an eternity.

* * *

**Finally, my first **_**Brave**_** fic! This story idea has been itching to get done for some time, and I based the title partly on one of my favorite fics, **www . fanfiction s / 8350335 / 1 / The - Queen - and - The - Bow**, as well as the film's original title "The Bear and the Bow." Some of the content was inspired by one of my favorite pics, **teddystwin . deviantart art / Gift - of - a - Thistle - 310231429, **which in turn was inspired by _Braveheart_. I also got the idea from in the film; if you look closely in the scene when Merida tries to make the cake presentable, she includes a thistle on the tray, but she never gives it to Elinor. I decided to fix that with this story. ;)**

**Hope you all like it, and if you do, please leave a review to let me know!**


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